Heard this before? Punchless Rays lose again

Alex Colome, the closer for the Tampa Bay Rays, has one save in 12 days.

Lately, there has been no saving the Rays.

Tampa Bay lost for the eighth time in their last 10 games Monday night, absorbing a 2-1 loss to the last-place Toronto Blue Jays, 2-1. The Rays have scored 12 runs in those 10 games. In their last 98 at-bats, the Rays have been held scoreless in 90 of them. Tampa Bay is three-for-its-last 45 at bats with runners in scoring position.

This time, the Rays had but four hits, one of them a home run by Wilson Ramos.

Content beyond this point is for members only.

Already a member? To view the rest of this column, sign in using the handy "Sign In" button located in the upper right corner of the GarySheltonSports.com blog (it's at the far right of the navigation bar under Gary's photo)!

Not a member? It's easy to subscribe so you can view the rest of this column and all other premium content on GarySheltonSports.com.

Odorizzi provided another good start in another loss./CARMEN MANDATO

“I don't have answers,” Rays' manager Kevin Cash said. “I know it's my responsibility to have answers, but I don't have them right now. We hit some balls really hard. We hit some balls really high. We had 4-5 just misses.”

And still, the Rays lost. Earlier in the season, the Rays looked like a very good hitting team, but that seems to have been lost. Tampa Bay has scored two or fewer runs in eight straight games. They fell to fourth after Baltimore's victory, and they're now two games under .500 (59-61) for the first time since June 6.

Duda had two hits, half of the Rays' total./CARMEN MANDATO

As has been the case with many of the Rays' recent losses, the starting pitching was good. Jake Odorizzi (who seems to give up a homer in almost every game), gave up a first inning blast to Josh Donaldson. After that, however, he stopped the Blue Jays on two hits.

Turns out, two runs was enough for Toronto.

“He cleaned it up pretty quick,” Cash said.

The Rays try again tonight, when Blake Snell (0-6) pitches against Marco Estrada. Game time is 7:07 p.m. in Toronto.

Search Gary Shelton Sports

Search for:

How to Subscribe

Gary Shelton Sports is a subscription site. The following options are available:
• Buy a season ticket ($4 a month).
• Splurge on a club seat ($24 a year).
• Or go all in with a skybox ($54 for three years, which is only $1.50 a month).

About Gary Shelton

• No one covers Tampa Bay like Gary Shelton.
• No one has seen as many moments, as many athletes, as many coaches as he has over the last quarter of a century.
• No one has won more awards, including two national Associated Press Sports Editors Best Columnist awards and eight top 10 finishes. He also just received his sixth Sportswriter of the Year award for Florida by the NSSA.
• No one has seen more big events, including 29 Super Bowls, 10 Olympics and 11 Final Fours. Gary still goes into the locker rooms to obtain his stories.
• No one has made you angrier, or laugh louder, or think harder about what he has written.

Now, he begins a website designed to keep him in touch with the readers who have grown up on his words.